


Finest and Fairest of All

by Anonymous



Series: Transformers Fairy Tale Retellings [9]
Category: Transformers Animated (2007), Transformers – All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe – Cinderella Fusion, Alternate Universe – Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe – Royalty, Cinderella Elements, Fairy Godparents, Fairy Tale Retellings, M/M, Maccadam's Back Room, Princes & Princesses, Step-parents, Step-siblings, au yeah august
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27143405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: After his creator's death, Skywarp's stepfather, Starscream, forces him to work as a servant for Starscream and his two creations. Skywarp is afraid of Starscream's temper but more afraid to leave. But a ball thrown by Prince Thundercracker of Vos and some timely intervention by Skywarp's fairy godfemme Slipstream means Skywarp might just have a chance after all.
Relationships: Skywarp/Thundercracker, Starscream & Sunstorm & Ramjet
Series: Transformers Fairy Tale Retellings [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1305272
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13
Collections: Maccadam's Back Room First Run





	Finest and Fairest of All

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [Maccadams1](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Maccadams1) collection. 



> Written for a claim from [Maccadam's Back Room First Run](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Maccadams1) here on the AO3. 
> 
> **Prompt:** Skywarp is a meek and cowardly mech forced to slave for his wicked stepfather Starscream and step-brothers Sunstorm and Ramjet. But with the help of his fairy godfemme Slipstream, a beautiful pair of glass thrusters and a smattering of confidence, he's going to the royal ball to win the spark of egotistical Prince Thundercracker.
> 
> Used for AU Yeah AUgust 2020. Prompt: Fairy Tale.

An Age or more ago here on Cybertron, there lived a young mech named Skywarp who, because life is inherently dangerous and frightening, had lost his creator and been left in his stepfather's care. His stepfather, Starscream, had two creations of his own, Sunstorm and Ramjet, and on these, he lavished all his attention and shanix. Sunstorm flattered everyone around him but Starscream the most, and Ramjet lied so blatantly that every time he spoke, what he said was the exact opposite of what he meant. Starscream schemed one scheme after another and had a temper, and Skwarp was quite afraid of him. True, there was not much that Skywarp wasn't afraid of, but Starscream just had too much power over him. Anything Skywarp had been left by his creator was under Starscream's control, and he would have no way to refuel or hide from danger if he left the house. It was much safer where he was. As long as he kept his helm down and did what he was told, he only had to deal with familiar frightening things instead of the terrifying unknown. And so Skywarp prepared the energon and cleaned the washracks and the kitchen forge and did all the things Starscream and his brood thought themselves too good for.

Now, the city in which they all four lived was Vos's capital, and it was home to the grand palace of that country's ruler, the Winglord of Vos. But at this time, there was no one named Winglord for to hold that position one must have a _conjunx,_ and the old Winglord's heir had none. Prince Thundercracker was single and seemed sure to remain that way, for he could not, he claimed, find any mech worthy of him. Under great pressure from his lords, he finally deigned to let them throw a series of grand balls where all could come and show off their finery. From the finest and fairest of all of these, Prince Thundercracker might agree to take a _conjunx_. Invitations were sent to all the quality and all the wealthy of Vos, including Starscream and his household.

Starscream announced this to his own creations only, but Skywarp was in the kitchen cleaning the forge there and overheard. Starscream had a loud, scary, voice and Skywarp couldn't have avoided hearing if he'd tried.

"The Prince is holding a ball to pick out a _conjunx_ ," Starscream said, "and all three of us are going. He'll have to pick one out of the three of us, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you what advantages that would give m – this family."

"Oh, what a wonderful idea, Creator," Sunstorm gushed. "I'm sure he'll pick you, of course."

"Well," Starscream said, falsely modest, "I _am_ quite the catch, but it's best for all of us to go, just to better the odds."

"What about Skywarp?" Sunstorm asked.

"What about him?" Starscream snapped. "He's none of mine. Just useful as a servant. I'm certainly not going to waste time and shanix getting him ready for a ball."

Skywarp had seen images of Thundercracker, and he thought the prince was very handsome, but the idea of having so much attention focused on him was worrying. What if he made a mistake? What if the Prince _did_ choose him, and then he'd be the centre of attention, and everything would change. Skywarp shivered and scrubbed harder at the forge, which was an unpleasant but at least familiar task, even if he did worry it might somehow turn on and burn him.

All the best armourers and detailers in the city were quickly booked up, and so Skywarp got pressed into doing a lot of the work of helping his step-brothers get ready. (Starscream had managed to get appointments for himself with professionals.) Skywarp polished Sunstorm and Ramjet until they shone as if their paint was still wet. He forced his hands not to shake with fear that he'd make a mistake as he stencilled designs on them and moved very carefully when hanging decorative chains on their wings so as not to tangle them or smudge the jewels.

"Very nice, Skywarp," Sunstorm said, admiring himself in a full-length mirror, "you're almost as good as a professional."

"I don't like it," Ramjet said matter-of factly, moving so that his chains swished and jangled musically. "You'd better do it over. I don't stand a chance like this."

Skywarp didn't say anything, because what if he said something _wrong_ , but it didn't matter because they had to leave. He fled back down to the kitchen, and there tucked himself away in a corner by the kitchen forge where nothing could get him. A part of him wished he could have gone to the ball as well if only so he wouldn't be left home alone, but it would be so crowded and with so many people! No, he thought, it was just as well that Starscream (unnecessarily) ordered him to stay home. Skywarp huddled up and told himself he was content.

A breem later, he nearly jumped out of his armour when someone kicked down the kitchen door and strode inside.

"I thought I'd find you here," his fairy godfemme, Slipstream, said smugly. "Well?"

"W-well what?"

Slipstream sighed. "Make your wishes. You want to go to the ball or what?"

"Oh – no – I couldn't, it's – "

"Scary?" Slipstream supplied.

"Yes!"

"Well, you get more than one wish. Want a little confidence to get you through?"

Skywarp looked at her curiously. "You can do that?"

"Yup. Now come on, I haven't got all night. Just say 'I wish' and then tell me what you want." When Skywarp hesitated, she added, "tick, tock, kid. You really want Sunstorm or Starscream to wind up with the prince?"

"Well, no, but," it occurred to him she'd left someone out. "What about Ramjet?"

Slipstream waved that off. "Ramjet's too confusing. If we get you shined up, you've probably got the best shot since you'll be too scared to do anything but hang off the prince's arm and look pretty. He'll like that. Plus, you'll outrank Starscream socially." Slipstream grinned. "It'll drive him _nuts_."

"Oh, well, I guess, when you put it like that…" Skywarp shut his optics off, screwed up his nerve, and blurted out, "I wish I had more confidence!"

Slipstream muttered something that sounded like 'finally' and tapped him on the head with a wand she'd pulled out of subspace. Skywarp immediately felt less afraid and stood up straight.

"Got anything else you want?" Slipstream asked.

"Oh, yes, I – I wish I was detailed and decorated for the ball and that I looked even fairer and finer than Starscream and my step-brothers!"

Another tap of the wand and all the grit and grime covering Skywarp from kitchen-work was gone. His armour shone like diamonds and was covered in fine lines of silver decoration. His wings were encased in chains of jewels, and his thrusters were of thick, clear glass ringed 'round the bottom with shining tungsten.

"They're kind of impractical, aren't they?" Skywarp asked, peering down at them.

"They're not for flying with. They're to look good. C'mon, into the garden, I gotta find something to turn into a transport for you." Slipstream found a good-sized crystal growing near the back of the garden and, with a tap of her wand, turned it into a fine, sleek, transport. "Get in."

"Um, sure, but – what if they recognize me?"

Slipstream shrugged. "They're used to seeing you dirty and cowering if they see you at all. Besides, there's a little glamour in the spell. They won't know it's you."

"What about the transport and the – " Skywarp gestured at himself.

"All this stuff's gonna change back then when the magic wears off at midnight, so be sure you're back here by then."

"Right," said Skywarp, climbing into the transport. "Midnight. Sure thing. Uh, anything else?"

"Yeah," Slipstream said, leaning in one of the windows with her arms folded. "Try to get Screamer so mad he can't fly straight. It'll be hilarious."

Skywarp was worried the palace guards wouldn't let him pass, but since all the wealthy had been invited and his transport showed he was undoubtedly wealthy, he was waved past. Indeed, no one challenged him at all and while the whispers that sprung up as he passed concerned him at first, he soon realized it was only that everyone was wondering who he could be. Soon, he had made it through the palace halls to the grand ballroom itself. As soon as he walked in, he saw Prince Thundercracker, standing tall and proud on a dais at the back of the room, with Sunstorm flattering him on one side and Starscream wheedling at him on the other. Ramjet seemed to be confusing the matter by insisting the prince had to be so much more interested in either of the other mecha and would surely never look at Ramjet himself. Prince Thundercracker didn't look interested in any of them. He seemed quite bored, in fact. But as soon as he saw Skywarp enter, his expression changed to one of interest. The prince practically pushed Sunstorm off him and strode across the ballroom.

"I'm Prince Thundercracker," he announced to Skywarp. "I'm sure you're extremely flattered to have my attention."

That was quite true, so Skywarp said, "yes, I-I am."

Thundercracker mistook the stammer for awe, and so he took Skywarp's hand. "Naturally," he said, pleased. "Who wouldn't be?"

"Well, you are the prince and the most powerful and important mech in Vos," Skywarp said, even with the confidence Slipstream had given him too afraid to say anything else. "Of course I can't expect you to pay attention to someone like me."

Skywarp meant that he wasn't significant enough to be noticed by a mech like Thundercracker. Thundercracker heard that the most beautiful, expensive-looking mech in the room agreed that the prince was still grander than they were.

"It's so nice to meet someone who truly appreciates me," Thundercracker said. "Come dance with me. You're certainly lovely enough to be by my side. Let's make sure you look as good when you're not standing still."

Skywarp didn't really know how to dance, but he did know that all he had to do was follow Thundercracker's lead – and it helped that Thundercracker just assumed he would lead. Besides, after a few turns, he got the hang of it and did so well that the Prince insisted on dancing with him, and only him, all night. Skywarp could see the fury building on his stepfather and step-brother's faceplates, but they hadn't seemed to recognize him. Naturally, he worried about what might happen if the glamour Slipstream had put on him should fail but told himself he had till midnight, and besides, he seemed to have caught the favour of the prince. Thundercracker might be arrogant and more than a little pompous, all things Skywarp was used to in Starscream, but he wouldn't stand for a scene being made at his ball.

Probably.

While they danced, Thundercracker told Skywarp all about himself, in great detail. He told Skywarp how he was the strongest, fastest, most intelligent and most handsome of all and how he more than deserved to be the Winglord. Skywarp listened and agreed with everything Thundercracker said, and the more he listened and the more he agreed, the more Thundercracker liked the thought of taking Skywarp as his conjunx. For his part, Skywarp thought that Thundercracker wasn't much worse than Starscream and wouldn't force him to do all the nastiest work of the house. Skywarp would live in the Winglord's Eyrie, secure behind thick walls and with defences and guards between him and most of the dangerous things in the world.

But though Thundercracker was supposed to announce the mech he'd chosen as his conjunx just before midnight, he was so engaged in telling Skywarp how wonderful he was that the time passed. It was only when an aide suggested to the Prince that he should make his announcement that Skywarp realized how late it was.

"I-I have to go," Skywarp blurted out, and, tugging free of the prince's hand, fled the ballroom and, indeed, the building. But as he leapt into his transport, he caught one of the tungsten rings on his thrusters on the edge of the door and lost it.

Prince Thundercracker chased after him but could not catch him, and the transport was gone and out the gates by the time the prince got through. But he did see the shining ring left on the ground and picked it up. It was clearly a high-quality piece, and Thundercracker, who had the best and the most expensive components as he deserved, had never seen its like.

"It has to be custom," he decided. "Clearly, anyone with such refined taste is worthy of my attention. Here, you," he handed the ring to one of his aides, who was surely flattered to be given his personal attention, "go out tomorrow and find the mech whose thruster fits this ring."

"Uh – but it's just a circle, won't that fit most jets?"

Thundercracker waved a dismissive hand. "You can't expect me to figure everything out myself. I’m far too important. You'll work it out."

* * *

Skywarp had made it home just in time, and the magic faded away at midnight as Slipstream had said it would. Skywarp hid the crystal in the back of the garden where Starscream would never look, and then hid in the kitchen as if nothing had happened. Starscream, Sunstorm, and Ramjet came home not long after and Skywarp heard them complaining about the mech who had held the Prince's attention almost all night long.

" – gaudy little upstart!" Starscream was complaining shrilly. " _I_ was talking to the prince, and they think they can just swan in like that?"

"It was bad timing, Creator," Sunstorm agreed (of course). "I'm sure if you'd had just a klik more, you'd have had the Prince as a conjunx by the end of the ball."

"Well, I'm just as glad they showed up," Ramjet announced. "And that the prince kicked us all out. I was getting bored anyway."

So they were all in a bad mood, and Skywarp curled himself tighter into his corner and hoped they didn't come into the kitchen. But his luck held out, and they all went upstairs and left him alone.

* * *

The next day, the Prince announced he was seeking the handsome mech from the ball. It seemed the mech had lost one of the decorative rings from his thrusters, and the Prince was looking for the mech it fit. One of the Prince's aides was to visit each Seeker in the city and have them try the ring on.

"Oh, what a brilliant plan," Ramjet said when Starscream told them. "I'm sure it being a circle made to fit a standardized part won't be a problem at all!"

"Just try not to talk when they get here," Starscream advised him with a sigh.

"Brilliant advice, as usual, Creator!" Sunstorm gushed.

Skywarp, in the kitchen, neither gave nor was asked for an opinion. He wasn't sure which would be worse: having to meet the aide or _not_ getting to meet the aide and losing his best chance of getting out of here.

That point about the circle was a good one, though. Skywarp fretted about that while he waited to find out which terrifying option he would have to face. Probably the last one. Starscream didn't like to admit Skywarp existed unless he or one of his creations needed something.

It was late in the afternoon when the Prince's aide came to their door. Starscream was suspiciously friendly, Sunstorm oozed compliments, and Ramjet told his most un-flattering lies. The aide, who'd been experiencing much the same all throughout the day, just hoped he'd find the mech he was looking for here so he could be done with this. He had a conjunx of his own to be getting back to, thank you very much.

So, for hopefully the last time that day, the aide set about trying to fit the thruster ring to each Seeker. It had proved trickier than expected, as there was a catch of some kind that had to lock for the thruster to stay one. It was damaged, slightly, from being pulled off a thruster the night before, but it was in good enough repair to show if it was on the right jet or not. The aide tried it on first Starscream, then Sunstorm, and at last Ramjet, but it would latch to none of them no matter how hard it was pushed or how it was twisted. Finally, the aide sat back.

"Very well," he said, "as it fits none of you, let me try it on the fourth Seeker who lives here and then we shall see what happens."

"Ah, the fourth Seeker?" Starscream said hesitantly.

"They're definitely not in the kitchen," Ramjet added hastily. "Nope, not at all."

"Oh!" Starscream exclaimed as if he'd only just remembered. "But you cannot mean _him_. He's only a servant, and you're looking for a finely-plated mech with wealth. Skywarp could never have managed to look so good as the mech we saw last night. Besides, surely we'd have recognized him."

The aide said that his task was to try the tungsten ring on every Seeker, including the servants. So Skywarp was brought forth from the kitchen, trembling only a little, and the aide fitted the tungsten ring about the bottom of his thruster. Being a circle, it fit, but unlike the previous attempts, here the catch locked the ring securely in place. This restored the last night's glamour, and Skywarp stood before them, polished and detailed as finely as he had been at the ball.

Starscream and his creations immediately praised Skywarp, telling him they'd always known he had potential. Skywarp was whisked away to the palace and re-introduced to Prince Thundercracker. The prince was surprised to learn of Skywarp's history, but Skywarp remained meek and agreed with everything the prince said about himself. Plus, he was certainly handsome enough to be seen with the prince, almost as handsome as the prince himself, Thundercracker thought.

And so, not long after this, Skywarp and Prince Thundercracker underwent the conjunx ritus, and the Prince ascended to the position of Winglord. As for Starscream and his creations were served by the ball too. They had caught the optics of other lords and so courted them instead. For his part, Skywarp lived in the palace, secure behind its walls and guards, and never had to scrub a kitchen forge again.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:  
> 
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> Author Responses: This author replies to comments. If you don't want a reply for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with "whisper," and I will appreciate it but not respond.


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